OIART INTERVIEWS JESSICA LEE,
OIART Grad 1999, Assistant Manager, Ocean Way Recording,
Hollywood CA, USA

I remember when I was attending OIART; we had a CD-ROM named "Allen Sides' Mic Cabinet" where you could look at pictures of all the best microphones in the Ocean Way Studios' mic locker and listen to various sound samples. I suppose at that point I figured Hollywood's Ocean Way had to be the most spectacular and successful studio in the entire world.

Their studios had been deigned by legendary United Audio founder Bill Putnam. They were riding high with Bonnie Raitt's massive albums, and whatever then-pop-king Michael Jackson was working on at the time. In the past were great sessions with Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra, and the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations," the ultimate studio concoction this side of the Beatles. Great engineers and producers like Quincy Jones and Bruce Swedien and Jack Joseph Puig and owner Allen Sides himself were frequent clients. Wow. Shoot me now.

Well, Ocean Way's stature hasn't really changed since then. They're doing as well as ever these days, with clients including Green Day, Beck, Tool, Sir Paul McCartney and recording projects like Radiohead's "Hail to the Thief". What has changed at Ocean Way is they now employ a couple of OIART grads - Dean Nelson who was previously profiled, and Assistant Manager Jessica Lee. I'm going to attempt to find out some answers to questions I've had about this legendary studio since I was a student, and a few other tidbits you might find useful!

Bob Breen: Hi Jessica, thanks for talking to us.

This probably isn't a fair assessment to all the other studios out there, mine included, and it might be a byproduct of market positioning as much as anything, but I always felt that if you made it to Ocean Way, you'd made it. Do you feel the same way?

Jessica Lee: In some respects, yes! It took me awhile before I could get over the awe of being here, enjoying every fun filled second. When a student graduates recording school, and has the fortune of ending up at a studio of this caliber, they can only be amazed at the artists and sheer talent that come through it, all the great gear lying around, and the recordings that take place! Not only that, Allen Sides is involved with many of the industry events. So many exciting things happen at Ocean Way almost every single day. I've been at Ocean Way for 5 years now and it's still fantastic! It's smack in the center of Hollywood and that in itself is a great (mis)adventure! ;-)
Although, I might add, there are so many great studios, each one unique in its own right and I believe we definitely have that special quality that make clients keep coming back for more.

Describe the studio for us, please.
Ocean Way, currently resides in 2 buildings; One in Hollywood and one in Sherman Oaks, called Record One.

Let's begin with Ocean Way Recording, Hollywood.

OWR as we like to call it, is comprised of 4 rooms and a mastering suite. Studio A, is and has been for the past 8 years, occupied solely by Jack Joseph Puig and he has kept it steadily booked throughout the years. There is a large tracking room and the board in A is a custom 72 channel Focusrite board designed by Rupert Neve. Studio B, is the large tracking room where there is a custom 48 channel API board. Studio C is an edit room with a 32 channel 8058. Studio D is our new overdub/mix room, with one of the most extensive array of outboard gear around. The board is a brand new 84 input Neve 88R. Our mastering suite is occupied by Alan Yoshida who was the mastering engineer at A&M studios before it became Henson and also does very high end XRCDs for JVC disc America.

Record One is where the SSLs are kept. We have 2 rooms at Record One. Studio A has the 100 input SSL 8000G console. Studio B has a custom 80 input SSL 9000J series console and a nice-sized tracking room.

Is there a special vibe that comes with the history of the building?
Yes, it's absolutely true for the Hollywood building. As you may know, it was one of the original United/Western studios that Bill Putnam had built. Allen entered Bill's life when Allen was a young man and Allen eventually took over thebuilding, renaming it Ocean Way for the street he grew up on in Santa Monica.

What does an assistant manager do there?
I work very closely with the studio manager, Corporate Managing Director and of course Allen Sides. That means sometimes doing their jobs so to speak! There is also some accounting involved. Also, it involves client relations (i.e. rolling out the red carpet and helping them feel at home; handling their special requests; everything from procuring special items and/or amenities, to arranging a limo etc.) and organizing studio events (such as parties for AES, Grammy's etc.) This is the fun part of the job!

A lot of what I do just got added throughout the years as O-Way likes to utilize everyone’s talents. I specifically supervise all the runners and interns; which include training and scheduling them between Ocean Way and Record One. I help the studio manager with the booking the rooms. That entails heavy networking and phone duties. We already have an extensive client base and they continue to record here time and again. It’s just a matter of scheduling them in. But new clients are always welcome too.

What's your favourite aspect of the job?
I really love the interaction that goes on at Ocean Way and all the exciting people that I meet. Can't beat not knowing what excitement a new day will bring! I also love the variety of clients we get doing the different types of recordings; Music, Film, TV shows and even photo shoots! Most importantly, we have a great staff!

You're not from Canada are you? You just came to school here… can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your history and how you found OIART in the first place?
Well, I grew up in Northern VA., London England and S. Korea! I was living in Seoul with a lucrative job after graduating with a BA in applied arts when I was bitten by the music bug. I had always been into arts in general and was trained in classical piano, ballet and painting. But music was a lifelong ambition for me and I was itching to get out and explore the opportunities in it. I found OIART on the internet and when I decided to attend and applied, it was actually close to the cutoff date and the beginning of the OIART year. So I arrived a week late!

OIART is very affordable compared to other schools. You get so much education for the tuition. And I figured that paying more wasn't going to get me better education or further in the industry. And this turned out to be true. OIART gives you invaluable training and covers all the bases!

I'm assuming you found it to be a good experience; I mean if you do! Well if you get a cool job after graduation, of course you do, right? But did you really?
It was a very intense course and my first time really being on my own. So there were many factors that were at play. But as far as my experience at OIART, it was fantastic. I learned so much invaluable knowledge while I was there. It really comes in handy and manifests itself all the time! Most of the staff or people applying for jobs come from the Conservatory or the LA Recording Workshop or Full Sail. And it feels really good to say I graduated OIART even though a lot of people in this side of the industry don't know OIART. I like to be able to tell people about it especially for those who ask for advice about what school to attend and I definitely recommend OIART to them.

What were your interests before you went to OIART?
My problem is I've had and continue to have too many interests! I love the arts in general. My major was applied arts (commercial design, industrial design). I also love computer programming, the culinary arts etc.

How did you get your enviable position at Ocean Way?
When I was searching for studios in the west coast and even NYC, what I got was a long list of studios that I had to sort through. I picked out a couple in the east and west to get a feel for what opportunities looked like at the time. There was a studio in NYC that was interested in offering an internship. That was when I called Ocean Way because I noticed many of the albums that I liked were done at Ocean Way and having forgotten that that is where the Allen Sides Mic Locker was done, I called them.

They told me to call when I got to LA. I had an interview and they told me to start in a week. The internship program is usually a six week program and depending on if they have any runner positions, they can hire the prospective employee. So I followed that course. I interned, I became a runner and then started assisting when one day the GM asked me if I would like to start training to book the room to help the studio manager out. Since then I started getting involved in the business side of the studio.

What do you think was the edge that helped you get the job ahead of other applicants? I've heard how many applications come there.
Many studios operate differently on many levels, such as hiring practices. A lot of studios will take on interns and they like to utilize the extra help when they can. Ocean Way likes to take on interns, too especially if there is a prospective employment opportunity afterwards. So the internship is really a trial period for both OWR and the prospective employee. The ones who stay and show promise are usually hired. So I guess for me, when I interned, I talked to many people, asked a lot of questions and volunteered to help with whatever I could. And people really appreciated that and took notice. You have to be intuitive and perceptive. You have to show that you're willing to stick out that extra mile and have a great attitude! People will be bending over backwards to help you learn! So timing is number one, and then perseverance. Also knowing when to ask questions and when to be quiet. And being flexible in your hours and going beyond the call of duty helps.

I love having a job where everything I've ever done is relevant, even in some small way. Would you say your job now utilizes all your various talents in a way you like?
Yes, absolutely. There inevitably comes a time when some emergency happens and you are called upon to save the day! That sounded too dramatic but it's true! There are so many jobs that need to be done aside from the ones in your job description. And when they pop up, those who can do it, are assigned to do it, usually for good! It really helps to have a technical background so everything learned at OIART comes in handy! I have an art background as well, so I’ve been asked to design labels, posters or photograph artists etc. I am good at crunching numbers so I do some accounting as well! It's that way with everyone here! Whatever you're good at, bring it to the table! Speaking of tables, I also like to cook and bake so occasionally I bake special goodies for the studio and the clients!

I was at the AES convention a couple years ago and I ran into a famous engineer who looked a little fried. I told him I worked at Ocean Studios in Burbank and the first thing he asked me was how I liked working for Allen, which I didn't. Any explanation would have been lost on him that day, so I just said "fantastic." I'll ask you the same question though, what is it like working for Allen?
It's great! He's an amazing engineer and gets involved in many exciting projects! Whether it's a 5.1 session he's doing, or he's setting up a monitor system for some big artist or studio, it's never ending. The longer I work there, the more interaction I have with him. He does UCLA extension classes every year, notably the Microphone class and one can really see his love of gear and the studio shine through. He has a photographic memory when it comes to his gear!

We did get a lot of confusion on the name, Ocean was actually a record company and our studio just held on to the record company handle. We used to get phone calls for you. I always made sure I gave them your number… ever get phone calls for us?
It's happened a couple of times. We always point them to the right direction. There's also another studio called Oceanview Mastering, where we have the same problem!

What do you reckon has made Ocean Way so successful for so long? How does Ocean Way stay current and cutting edge?
Mostly I would have to say it’s the quality of the client service and technical support and the rooms. Our rooms have pretty much stayed the same. We’ve put in a new room (Studio D) and updated a lot of our equipment in the rental department, including the Pro Tools rigs.
At the Audio Engineering Society Symposium in Toronto this weekend, they're having an open forum on the relationship between large studios such as yours and smaller home or project studios.

How does Ocean Way relate to client's home studios? Do you have to accommodate their needs in a special way?
Well one of the unique aspects we spoke of earlier regarding Ocean Way is the rental company we own. We have a large inventory of gear we rent out. So with that came another business venture; Ocean Way To Go!, which is quite exciting. Our rental company sets up temporary studios complete with board, harnesses, cables, outboard gear and tape machines and PROTOOLS. Recently we helped set up a large part of the Aberdeen Recording studios in Aberdeen, South Dakota including the Allen Sides monitoring system.

What is your most requested piece of gear?
The Fairchild (vintage tube compressor, used on Beatles’ recordings most notably – stereo version costs approx $5000US used these days)! And Allen's mics of course!

When Ocean Way hires a new person, what one thing do you hope they know above all else?
We hope they come with good common sense and a good personality doesn't hurt either!

What's the one thing they usually don't know you wish they did?
Umm…

Do you have any advice for a current OIART student taking the program, or perhaps for someone thinking of taking the program?
Do your homework and research this field. Make sure it's what you want. But I will say if engineering isn't your passion down the line, there are so many other jobs in this field that's waiting for you so it's good to be flexible. But if once you've decided, stay focused and don't waste your energy on frivolities. When you start sending out resumes, don't show up unannounced and ask for a tour. It's considered a breach of manners to some so make a good first impression. Call ahead and make some contacts. It's good to make contacts while you're in school as well. Hit up your teachers and classmates!

Once you're in, have a good attitude and pay attention to detail. Ask a lot of questions and if you don't know something, speak up! Be a team player and it doesn't hurt to fall in love with the studio you work for! It will show in your actions and your work! Those who love the place of work go the extra mile and will reap the rewards! And most of all; have a blast!

Okay, it's drooling fan time for me… did Paul McCartney bring his '63 Hofner Bass (Ed Sullivan show 1964), his Epiphone '62 Casino ("Taxman" solo) and '65 Texan acoustic ("Yesterday"), and his '60 Les Paul Standard sunburst (RARE) that Linda bought him???? Did you get to see them???
He brought a whole truck full of gear!

I heard the studio was very carefully locked down when they were in. What are some of the security concerns you have to deal with?
We have a good security system/protocol in place but obviously more heightened when a high profile client is in the studio.

I hear McCartney is a pretty nice person to have around, what was the session like?
The sessions were very chill. Very fun person to have around!

How was the Radiohead session? They seem very private and serious, but I'm guessing they were terrific guests.
They were very gentlemanly! All the British clients seem to be. Nigel and all the bands he brings are great!

Are you going to run that place someday?
Wow, haven’t thought of it…